January 4th, 2023

On Wednesday’s Mark Levin Show, the swamp in D.C. is not just the left or RINOs or even Washington, but the people who feed off Washington D.C. and say that they are going to save America. Beltway special interest groups lobbying in Washington claim to represent you, but they don’t represent you at all. Getting behind Kevin McCarthy for Speaker isn’t selling out; it’s because we see the enemy in Biden, Chuck Schumer and the Marxists and what they’re doing to the DOJ, FBI, and Donald Trump. We’re sick and tired of the people we put in Congress to save the Republic play these games and waste the Republican majority. This is like blackmail for committee assignments, putting themselves before the needs of the country while playing a game of attrition because they have nothing to lose. Also, Biden is slobbering all over Mitch McConnell for passing the $1.7 trillion spending bill, because McConnell is all about helping the Democrats and screwing republicans, specifically MAGA republicans. Those like McConnell are why we lose in the Senate. Later, there’s not a single thing in the inflation reduction act that promotes growth or savings. It’s all a counter-motivator for banks and individuals, filled with taxes to drive up costs in every aspect of our lives.

Photo by Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times

The podcast for this show can be streamed or downloaded from the Audio Rewind page.

Rough transcript of Hour 1

Hour 1 Segment 1

Let me tell you a little bit about what goes on around here in Rush Limbaugh. And I used to talk about this. I don’t think there’s anybody on the air. On a national radio program who was closer to Rush and spoke more to Rush than I. Period. That’s how close we were. And we would talk all the time in the past till I obviously got ill. One of the things that bothered him a lot and he would touch on it now and then with you, but he would touch on it with me a lot. Are these groups inside the Beltway? Some of them claim to be conservative groups, libertarian groups, both groups, limited government groups. And he said they are endlessly fundraising and endlessly lobbying him and annoying him to take certain positions. And he was a very polite man was Rush. He put up with it, but he didn’t like it. He would accept the awards from a number of these groups, even though he was not a great fan of how they would process things. And I know what he means now because I get this all the time and these groups send out letters or petitions and then they claim to represent you. And if I were to go through the name of some of these groups, you never would have heard of them because they don’t represent you. So the sanctimony is really unbelievable. In. If I asked you the name of some of these people, I told you the name of some of these people. You wouldn’t know who they are either. Now, there’s a lot to get to today. We got Mitch McConnell down there in Kentucky celebrating the fact that he sold out the American people and knew we’ve got this battle going on in the House where a number of my friends who are in this tow are getting up and sanctimoniously telling us what we already know, what already has to happen, and don’t have the foggiest idea how to get us to where they claim they want to take us. But the swamp in Washington, D.C., is not just the left. We have a place in Virginia When we first purchases placed about 40 miles outside of Washington, D.C., there was literally nothing around us 20 years ago. Nothing. Now the Washington subway comes out here. We’ve got where there were two lane roads. We have six lane roads, overpasses, huge malls, massive, massive Internet buildings, these massive, windowless buildings. The Chinese want to take us out. They know exactly where to hit us. And Loudon County. I was pointing it out to my wife. When? At night. The other night, as we were driving down a particular route, I said, Look at this, every side of the road. Every side of the road. What is that? That’s Washington. That’s the growth of government and all of its appendages and all the rest. It’s the swamp. The swamp isn’t just Washington. It’s beyond Washington. It’s people who feed off Washington. Some of them feed off Washington by saying the same damn thing day in and day out and patting themselves when they add that they’re going to save America. You get these requests. They’re not going to save a damn thing. You’re going to save America. And so in many ways, they claim to be one thing and they’re quite frankly, not. They’ve been spent their entire lives and careers living off of Washington in one bizarre form or another. So I don’t pay attention to them. Most of them claim to have clout. They simply don’t have. It’s a fact. And unfortunately, I have to pull the veneer back. It’s the nature of the beast. Also, I don’t just fall into line. Because 20 people on Capitol Hill have taken a position that is utterly inarticulate as far as I’m concerned. 20 people. Look at Matt Gaetz. Matt Gaetz strikes me as the ringleader of this. Why isn’t Matt Gaetz being offered up as a potential speaker? Would he get 20 votes? Probably. Can he get 21? No way. Matt Gaetz tonight is attacking Donald Trump. Matt Gates isn’t Mr. Wise Man. Matt Gates has a lot of dirt. So why is he doing that? I’m a big fan of Lauren Boebert, by the way. Stolen. Why she taking shots. Trump. Right before her election. We had her on the program several times. We’ve met her. We like her. She said that she was going to support McCarthy and he must applaud God knows what, almost $2 million into her campaign and she won by a couple of hundred votes. Well, what was it that caused her to accept that money but to reject him? It’s a fair question. And why is Mark Levin, who has spent his entire life fighting rivals and Republican establishment, whether it was for Reagan in his hometown, whether it was when he ran and actually won for the school board when he was in law school. Backing Kevin McCarthy. I’m not backing Kevin McCarthy. I’ve said this a thousand times, but people don’t want to listen. They want to believe. They want to hate. They want to target. They whatever it is. It’s just easier to put the suit on and be whatever you are. For me, this is even a battle between conservative and Rhino. Is there somebody about 201 in the last vote? Jim Jordan. Jim Banks. Tom Massie. Palmer of Alabama. Moore of Alabama. I can go down a list of scores of serious, solid conservatives. Are they opposed to securing the border? Are they opposed to the conservative agenda? No. In fact, they’ve been fighting for the conservative agenda, frankly, longer in Congress than many of my friends who are of the 20. And you’ve got 25 members. More than half of the Freedom Caucus who are not voting. With the other 20. Why is that? Are they sellouts? Because they love McCarthy. No, it’s because we see the enemy. The enemy is Biden. The enemy is Schumer. The enemy is what the Democrats have been doing to this country. We see the Marxists. We see what they’re doing to the courts. To the Justice Department, to the FBI. We see what they’re doing to our former president. We got two years less now. To take matters into our own hands. But we can’t trust MacArthur, they said. Then you’ll remove them. Then you’ll remove them. Now, who is it exactly? Who is it exactly of those conservatives I just mentioned who are stupid? Who’s a sellout? Who’s a RINO? Who’s a McCarthy? Who are they? There’s none of them. So there’s this false narrative that’s created like the left. And if you’ve been around Washington a long time in one of these groups, you create, in many cases, false narratives. And they don’t want you to think for yourself and they don’t want you to get beyond the first point. You can see it in some of the comments on social media. But if you’re like me, you’re sick and tired of all these blowhards. That’s enough. We put you there as small as the majority is, it’s a majority. We put you there to help save the republic, not to kick each traveler’s ass. McConnell is running away with the Republican Party. He’s running away with the agenda. They’ve already put the omnibus bill in. McCarthy didn’t support the omnibus bill, but he had no power. He was in the Republican minority in the House, and McConnell moved as fast as he could to get around the Republican majority. Now, we don’t even have a majority. They’re not doing anything. I can get in here and give you the best speech and anybody. I can give a better speech than the ones you heard today from the 20. I bet I can do a better speech in my brother Roy. Chip. Roy. Our Byron Donalds, our Lauren Boebert. But the fact of the matter is we have the ability now to control committees. What kind of a wimp would appoint Jim Jordan to head the Judiciary Committee in a coma to head the Oversight Committee? I looked at some of these names on my list. You got some people been there for two years, some who were preparing to run for the Senate. Some were demanding committee assignments. These are not all principled conservatives. Hell, they all voted for Kevin McCarthy to be majority leader. Excuse me, Minority leader two years ago. Those who were there. Those who were there voted for McCarthy to be their leader two years ago. I have no problem with duking it out over these rules. And if you get 80 or 90% of what you want, great. But there’s another 201 or 200, two of them in there who are not liking what’s going on. What are you going to do about it? And they say they’re their representative republic. Well, 20 doesn’t represent the republic. Does it? I don’t think so. I don’t understand what my friend. And he is my friend and we were the first to bring him on national stage on Fox. Byron. Donaldson He is my friend. He’s a very earnest man. And he got to where he is the hard way. I don’t understand how you vote for McCarthy twice. Then you’re the stalking horse for the other 19. In vote after vote after vote. What did the first two votes mean? I mean, it’s almost it’s perplexing. It’s nonsensical. I don’t understand how you’re Matt Gaetz, where you’re walking around behind the scenes. You’re on TV, you’re working groups, you’re working out, you’re in front of the camera. He’s not even a member of the Freedom Caucus, and his name is never proposed for speaker. Why? Why is that? Does that make sense to anybody? Now. I’ve got a lot more. I’ll be right back.

Hour 1 Segment 2

We’re not going to spend all day on this. What’s the point? See what happens. They are in a meeting at 8 p.m.. I just find there’s a lot of blowhards in Congress. I really do. And I don’t want I want to know how you vote for McCarthy to be your Republican leader. Two years ago, I didn’t vote for him. In fact, I was busy criticizing him and and now this. Again, I’m not opposed to a two duking it out. I’ve done it a lot during my entire life. I in this radio and so forth and so on. But if you don’t have a candidate to put forward and get more than 20 votes out of 221 or 222, and I have the Democrats talking about, well, we’ll give you a few votes, you know, if we can work it out. Something as feared and I’ve told you about that worries me a lot. I think what should have these 20, they can declare victory. They’ve got a lot of things done. I think there has been a lot of negotiation. I’ll be right back.

Hour 1 Segment 3

Chip Roy is asked to come on the program if he can get out of their meeting. There’s a meeting going on now. Of course, he’s more than welcome. He’s an old friend. And this is from Bloomberg News. Key committee assignments become latest source of contention. House Speaker Fight moves into second Day. Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, who was among those who questioned whether the coronavirus originated in a lab in China, Wants chair wants to chair a House Armed Services subcommittee. Maryland Republican Andy Harris, one of Congress’s most conspicuous opponents of abortion and recreational marijuana. This is them writing, not me. See here. Once the gavel of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, a freshman wants to a list committee assignments. Let’s see what’s going on here. This is like blackmail for committee assignments. Now, what about other conservatives who’ve been around a little longer who want committee assignments? What should they do? Walk out. These are just some of the latest demands in exchange for their support of McCarthy to be the next speaker. A person in the negotiations has told Bloomberg News. Are you people impressed with this that we should be going through this for that? I thought these were bigger issues. They go on TV and they talk about transparency, the 72 hour rule, and now it’s I want to be the subcommittee chairman of this and I want to be the subcommittee chairman of that. And I want the all powerful rules committee. They want four out of the nine. Committee slots on that committee, there’s there’s 20 of them. Let’s see here just reading this. Spokespeople for Gates and Harris did not immediately respond to requests for comment on their demands. Here are some of the latest concessions. Tennessee Republican Andrew Ogles. I think he was just elected like the other freshman has yet to take the oath of office, wants seats on the powerful Financial Services and Judiciary Committees. Efforts to call OGLES, a conservative who voted for Jordan as speaker on his new office line, were unsuccessful. So here’s a guy who’s just elected and he wants to prime seats. Does this sound like country? First to you, Mr. Producer. Seriously? They want four of the nine seats on the House Rules Committee, which will give them outsized influence on what does and doesn’t get to the floor of the House. They want four seats on a on all of the A-list committees, a move that would be met with stiff objections from other Republicans. And, by the way, including other conservatives. So this really is about. This is. This is this. This is blackmail. I wonder what my. Fellow conservatives think about this. So this is the. These are the latest demands. So when my friend Chip gets on TV and said, you know, we’re sick of these bills, they come out this way, they come out. We have real bare knuckle stuff going on here about subcommittee chairmanships, about committee assignments. Even for people who haven’t even been sworn in yet. And, of course, it means that some other members are going to have to be removed. Does that sound right to you folks? It doesn’t sound right to me. Now, if you’re literally fighting over rules, I get that. But now, if you’re fighting over, I want this and I want that. And you ever give it to me or I’m not voting for you for speaker. That’s not a principled argument, because all of a sudden, I guess you trust McCarthy. All the arguments you’re making is that he’s a rhino, that he can’t be trusted. He’s been there 16 years or you don’t like him and blah, blah. Well, and now it’s our. Give me this committee assignment and I’ll vote for him. At least for about five or six of these guys, maybe more. Give me these committee assignments and I’ll vote for him. Now you can imagine what would happen if that is the payment for their votes, which I don’t know. Maybe McCarthy will pay that for their votes. I’m not involved. I have no idea. But what happens if 20 rhinos step up and say, okay, cool, we like that. We want four. We want the other five positions on the Rules Committee. And while we’re at it. We want to chair this committee. And we want subcommittee chairs for that committee. You got one of these goofball group. What’s it called? The. I don’t know. It’s like the bipartisan group or whatever. Let’s get stuff done. Group. What if they make demands? Because the the majority is so slim. This is what I means when people write me or say to me, all the rhino. Rhino really, really must be listening to the wrong station. You want to know when a rhino is A rhino is somebody who does this to we, the conservative people. Who gets their outside groups to support them, to send letters and raise money while they’re trying to position themselves for a better seat on a committee. And some of them want to run for the Senate. Now, that is a rhino. It’s also an A-hole. Now let me see this article again. And I would like to. I would like to know if Mac Gates, if that’s what you’re up to, pal. Andy Harris. Who are the others? Ogle Ogles. Excuse me. From Tennessee. He’s not even sworn in yet to major committee assignments he’s demanding. Now, let me ask you folks something. You don’t all live in these districts. You don’t all live in Gates’s district or Oracle’s district or Harris’s district in Maryland. So one guy has a Florida district. One has a maryland district. One has a Tennessee district. Another guy here. I’m just reading this has an Oklahoma district. Oh, What about you and your district? So why should the people in one district have representation on these key committees, have their representative as a subcommittee chairman or a committee chairman because they were blackmailing the other 203, including your representative? Why is that a good thing? While we are conservative here, we don’t trust McCarthy. But they do trust McCarthy. Several of them are willing to vote for them if they get these assignments that they want. And they wrap themselves in principle. This is what makes me sick to my stomach. And so many people buy it. And so many people buy into this because they want you to buy in. I don’t buy into anything. I take a look. I apply my experience and my principles. And that’s where I come. That’s where I come out. That’s where I come out. And if something doesn’t make sense to me, it doesn’t make sense to me. These guys are being portrayed as great patriots, and some of them are, by the way. But among them, obviously, are individuals who are your typical political blowhard hacks who come from other parts of the country who are trying to position themselves for more power. It’s not about And I said the state this isn’t about a conservative moderate or a conservative establishment battle. It’s just not. And maybe this is one of the reasons they can’t persuade Jordan. To lead their battle or Jim Banks to lead their battle. Or maybe this is why Tom Macey’s not participating on their side. Or Moody of West Virginia. Maybe they’re on to this. Maybe they see this and they want nothing to do it. Maybe that’s why they’re even a minority. The Freedom Caucus. They’re not a majority of the Freedom Caucus. Gates isn’t even a member of the Freedom Caucus. Maybe. Maybe that’s what’s going on here. They don’t have all the conservatives. They don’t have the Republican I think it’s called the study committee. I mean, there’s 201, 202 other Republicans. They’re not all liberals. They’re not all rhinos. A majority of them are conservatives. Well, why aren’t they thrown in with these 20? Well, it’s Washington. It’s this one Washington in the swamp. I just told you what several of these people among the 20 are seeking. Power. Position. Not all of them again, I’ll say not all of them, but some of them. Including Gates, who didn’t respond to Bloomberg. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I really do. I really do. I’ll be right back.

Hour 1 Segment 4

But I hear McConnell next hour. It’s unbelievable. We can all agree on that one, right? This guy is just disgusting. He’s now the longest serving leader of either party or any party in the Senate in American history. It’s disgusting. And I. And I would like to know. And I’m quite serious about this from Matt Gates, from Andy Harris, from these freshmen seeking these seats. This Andrew Ogles of Tennessee and these others. Are you are you blackmailing the Republican Party? Are you a blackmailing the conservative base? Are you blackmailing MAGA so you can have special treatment to get seats that you want in, but in front of the line of other conservatives? Is that what’s going on here? Now, keep in mind, this is Bloomberg, but they write GOP hard liners angle for plum posts as price of McCarthy votes. Again. Florida Republican Matt Gaetz was among those who questioned whether the government member wants to chair the House Armed Services Subcommittee. Do that overseas, say China. In the lab, Maryland Republican Andy Harris, one of Congress is sort of over. Once the gavel of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. Okay. Who’s in front of the. And what district does that individual represent? Because, you know, we have conservatives, MAGA, Republicans in every district. These are just some of the latest demands from the so-called conservative hard line. They’re not conservative, hard, hard liners. In exchange for their support. For Kevin McCarthy to be the next speaker. Now, this is just grotesque to me. Because this comes down to me blatant political blackmail. And it’s not about what they’ve been saying. They don’t trust McCarthy This McCarthy that McCarthy. I mean, I think I have more issues with McCarthy than some of these guys, quite frankly. Let’s see. With neither side appearing willing to settle, some lawmakers suggested the stalemate could go on for weeks. Spokespeople for Gates and Harris did not immediately respond to requests for comment in their demands. Tennessee Republican Andrew Ogles. Who hasn’t even taking the oath of office yet. It was just elected once seats on two powerful committees, financial services and Judiciary. That’s the only way he’ll vote, he says. This is good to exposes. These guys want transparency. I want more of this. I want to know exactly what the hell’s going on in that room right now as I’m on the air. And I hope Chip Roy does call in. I want to know exactly what the hell’s going on in there, because we, the people have a right to know. We the people have a right to know what’s really going on. They want four of the nine seats in the House Rules Committee. So 20 of them. Out of the 222, I think it is Republican majority. 20 of them want four of the nine seats on the Rules Committee. What about other conservatives who want some seats on the Rules Committee or in line to get seats? They don’t matter. Because they’re not putting a gun to the head of the country. And so these guys have really the ones I’m talking about here are not all of them. Well, I’ll wait. Let’s wait. I will wait. Let’s take a few calls here. John. I’m not sure how to pronounce this. Let me just say Oklahoma. XM satellite. John, how are you? I’m great. You’re a great American, Mark. Glad you’re out here on the air. Well, thank you. I’ve been here and talk about these interviews, about the people that are old now, and they don’t really have a good reason why. And you just listed a few that I hadn’t heard but made me wonder, you know, maybe they’re being paid off to the whole the whole process. You know, Jim Jordan can open his investigation. And then as I was on hold, it occurred to me, I’m kind of wondering how many of these people were backed by Mitch McConnell in there when they were campaigning. And then it occurred to me that maybe Jim Jordan not opened up an investigation on Mitch McConnell with his questionable ties. And so I just want to say couple of things here. I wouldn’t say that these guys are paid off and I wouldn’t say that these guys were backed by McConnell. I would say that these guys really have no strategy, that they’re they’re upset about what’s taking place in Washington. I think that’s legitimate. But what you have to do is focus on the enemy. And in this particular instance, none of these guys have a great record. Many of them voted for McCarthy to be their leader. Many of them are now negotiating for themselves in their own districts. It’s almost like these earmarks. They go into these massive budgets that they say they oppose. They want special earmarks for their committee assignments. And you, sir, will be left out, your congressman and where you live in Oklahoma. He’s not one of the 20, as I understand it. So you will not get special representation. There’s something very weird about this. I’ll be right back.